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Getting ready to start a new project now, and leaning toward a 14-fret 000 with a 13-fret neck, to move the bridge to the middle of the lower bout. Is it better to leave the soundhole and X as-is, move the bridge plate back and trim the fretboard (my gut preference)? Move the soundhole and the whole mess back? What are the percieved plussed and minuses of each approach?

I'm a big fan of 13-fret guitar and use it on a lot of my vintage based shapes (000, L-00, Slope D). When designing the bracing patterns for these instruments I have shifted everything. Depending on the shape I have also varied the angle on the X brace. The big thing I am looking to maintain is the the wings of the bridge still overhang the X. If you only move the bridge plate and not the X you may be in danger of shifting the bridge off of the X. Again this depends on the angle of the X and some other bracing considerations.

I would say give the 13 a try. I've been very happy with the results on all the shapes I have used it on.

Josh

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Josh House

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Good points Josh. Looking forward to the next project. Need to finish the one I'm working on first though. It's not going down without a fight...

My olf round 2 build is a 13 fret OM albeit with a non traditional brace layout

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MK5acoustics.com

My favored approach is to move the bracing so that the X-braces intersect to bottom corners of the bridge. This is roughly equivalent to the forward-X placement.
I would stick with an X-crossing angle between 97 and 98 degrees.
For soundhole location, I generally go with the aesthetics. That typically means moving the soundhole down a bit, but not the entire distance that the bridge moves. You may be surprised at how much the guitar's appearance can change, even when the soundhole is moved 1/8" or less.
To visualize it, you can use a black cardboard circle to represent the soundhole.

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John